PH, China to firm up ‘2nd basket’ of projects

The Philippines and China have agreed to firm up the “second basket of infrastructure projects” in time for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Manila in 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte’s top economic manager said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the 2017 Philippine Association for Chinese Studies Conference in Pasig City, Socioeconomic Secretary Ernesto Pernia revealed that eight infrastructure projects have been lined up for possible funding by Beijing.

“There are more projects in the second basket than in the first basket. These are going to be firmed up or even finalized during the planned visit of President Xi Jinping to the Philippines next year,” said Pernia, the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority.

“These have been prioritized as a result of a high-level meeting between the Philippine government and the Chinese government last September 27, 2017,” he added.

Earlier, Philippine officials met with a visiting Chinese delegation headed by China’s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan to review the progress of the actions of their respective governments on the first batch of infrastructure projects.

The officials also discussed the second batch of projects that the Philippines wanted to implement also in cooperation with China.

The first batch consisted of, among others, the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project in Cagayan and Kalinga provinces and the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project.